A group such as the National Center for Child Health and Development said that it was the first in Japan to succeed in surgery for a foetation in which a serious heart disease was found, using a technique called "fetal treatment" that treats a sick fetus while it is in the mother's stomach. Announced.
"Fetal treatment" is a new medical technology that treats the fetus before it is born when a serious illness that is life-threatening is found.
According to groups such as the National Center for Child Health and Development, in July, a 25-week-old foetation was found to have a disease called "severe aortic stenosis," in which the entrance to the blood vessels of the heart narrows and part of the heart does not grow. On the other hand, a special tube such as a needle was inserted into the fetal heart from outside the mother's stomach, and an operation was performed to inflate a device called a balloon in the narrowed blood vessels.
As a result, the blood vessels have expanded and the amount of blood flowing to the heart has increased, which means that the foetation was born safely in October and the course is good.
This operation was performed as part of a clinical study of "fetal treatment", and according to the group, it is the first time that "fetal treatment" for "severe aortic stenosis" has been performed in Japan.
Dr. Haruhiko Sago of the National Center for Child Health and Development says, "The number of diseases that can be treated in the foetation is gradually increasing. We would like to continue clinical research so that we can increase the lives that can be saved by fetal treatment."